The Kings Funerals
by i-die-for-descendants
Summary: King Bens death leaves the kingdom in mourning, the weight of the crown and the guilt Mal feels are close to pushing her over the edge


The constantly sunny sky of Auradon was now shadowed with heavy grey clouds that threatened to downpour upon the kingdom. The calculated times of short rain to water the kingdoms wildlife was no longer relevant, for no one had predicted this, and therefore no one could stop it. The weather however, gloomy as it was, simply reflected the mood of the kingdom, had it been a sickeningly sunny day per usual it would not have felt appropriate. It appeared the skies too felt the sorrows of the kingdoms people and therefore reflected it. As he lay in the coffin in front of them, Mal's mind was cast back to the previous week… the day it all went wrong.

_The sky had been blue and a light breeze blew through the air, a perfect Auradon day as usual. There were times when Mal had to remind herself that this moment, these days, were not a dream. That she was really living this life with her husband, sweet Ben. She was a Queen. Not a self-proclaimed one as her mother had been on the isle, an official, enlisted queen with her king by her side, both in spirit and literally. As her eyes fluttered open, she saw her brown-haired king lying beside her, he looked peaceful when he slept, the constant face of stress or overwhelmingness had faded leaving him looking calm, an expression she missed seeing. She analysed his face, fearing she may never see him this peaceful again. As she continued to memorize his expression, it quickly changed to one scrunched up and awakening. The young king let out a loud yawn and almost fell out of the bed at the sight of Mal, he analysed the bed he lay in._

_'__Oh' he exclaimed_

_'__Oh what?' Mal questioned_

_'__I've awoken in this bed' he said looking at his other through the doors too his bedroom two rooms past._

_'__Yes you were quite adamant about that' _

_The two giggled to her reply, like children, the memories of the previous nights party flooding back to them. After a long night of greeting and meeting, and dining and fine wining, the two had snuck off to spend the rest of the night themselves. They made mockery of traditional dances and ate treats until they were positively sick. It had been the perfect end to a night that had begun as quite miserable. Ben understood that Mal never had a liking for these events and he respected that about her, he knew it wasn't her scene. That understanding was all she had ever wanted from him. But his sneaking with her, his rebel streak was a newfound quality he had adapted after many years to much of the stress on his shoulders. The events last night were not the first time they had snuck away from a royal event and she doubted it would be their last. Yet Ben arose from the bed, that terrible expression returning to his face, he began rushing about, his servants had entered the room just in time. He had thankfully made it to the through the doors and their connecting room and ran to his own, because Hades forbid the married couple even be seen having a good time together never mind sharing the same bed. The Scandal._

_'__I have to sail to the isle to meet Uma are you coming?' he asked her through the rooms_

_'__Sail? We have a bridge' Mal said scanning through the daily mail_

_'__Yes but its situated at my parents palace up North if you remember'_

_'__oh I remember'_

_'__Yes well that's a two-hour drive plus driving to Uma's, whereas the boat takes me directly to her docks in half an hour, it just makes more sense'_

_'__I guess' she replied opening the newspaper 'but no unfortunately I can't come I have that ceremony for the Isle kids integration centre'_

_'__Oh yes I forgot about that' he walked through the connecting room and into hers 'I wish you could come' he said placing his finger on her chin and turning her head to look at him_

_'__I wish I could too, but I can't let them down' she gave him a quick kiss 'I'll see you later, we have to greet Lord and Lady Charming' she reminded him rolling her eyes_

_'__Can't we cancel?' he asked falling onto the bed _

_'__Unfortunately no, I still can't believe you gave him that title'_

_'__He wouldn't shut up about it' he reminded her_

_'__Your Majesty' a voice called _

_'__I gotta go' he said kissing her once again and leaving her to be dressed for the day ahead. _

That calmed expression was the one that now lay on the King's face and for the first time Mal wished she never had to see it again, she would give anything to see that stress filled face look back at her, give the wand to whoever required it, anything to see him look back at her with those big green eyes.

Today, the day of the funeral would be the first time she had ever seen her friends in all black, she had tried to convince them to add their own colour schemes, that their individuality was what Ben loved them for but they refused, they felt it would be inappropriate and that they were not there to be individual but to mourn, the same as she was. She respected their wishes and left it at that. To be honest that conversation had been the most Mal had spoke to them since Ben had passed she couldn't deal with the constant pity, the silence that filled a room when she entered, it was bad enough that other royalty and similar social status members gave it to her, she did not want that treatment from her friends. Before she would never have expected it, they were villains, cruel, hard and uncaring but Auradon had changed them. Ben had changed them. She once knew nothing about love and at the moment she wished that were still the case, because had she not loved him this would not have happened. Mal constantly felt as though she may breakdown, spiral even. But she knew she could not, Auradon looked at her as a queen, a figure of strength and so she would be just that. She had to remember that as the two people she wished to see least walked through her study doors and stood in front of her.

'Hello Mal' her parents in law greeted her.


End file.
